Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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1
PORTABLE HAIR DRYER
This is a division of co-pending Canadian Patent Application
No. 2,419,984 filed on September 14, 2001.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates in general to a hair dryer/blower and
specifically to a portable hair dryer/blower that is so constructed as to
enable it to
physically stand alone on its own base and that has not only a voltage
regulating
circuit to control the heat produced by the element but also has a variable
air inlet
control, a variable air outlet control and a power control circuit that allows
the
heating element to obtain full heat and then pulses it to maintain the set
heat at a
less power consumption of the battery.
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2
2. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
There are many different types of hair dryers/blowers. However, none are
known by applicant that are portable. For instance, typical hair dryers are
shown
in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,195,217; 5,555,637 and 5,701,681. All of them, however,
have AC cords attached and are not portable and self-contained.
It would be desirable to have a hair dryer/blower that is portable and held
in one hand to provide the user freedom with the other hand for actions such
as
simultaneously using additional styling tools thus aiding in the creation of
different styling techniques. Further, it would be desirable to construct the
hair
dryer/blower such that it will stand by itself on its base and is balanced
when held
thereby offering improvements in ease of operation due to minimizing the
effects
of the combined weight on the wrist and arm of the user. It would also be
desirable in such case to conserve battery power by enabling the healing
element
to attain full heat and then to pulse the voltage or current applied to it in
such a
ratio as to simply enable the heat to be maintained depending on blower speed
and
air input and output.
Also, it would be desirable to provide a unit as part of the hair
dryer/blower that enables a fluid to be selectively dispensed at the anterior
end
thereof.
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3
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Thus, uhe present inventior~ re;aieL. to a ponablt iiai ciryerfblowe:
assembly that has a number of important features. The first is that it is
portable
and self-contained and includes an electric heat generating coil and blower
assembly.
In addition, the battery assembly, with its weight, serves as a stand for the
dryer/blower and provides a means to weight balance the complete assembly
when used.
The power source may contain a built-in charger or a portion of the
charger such as a rectifier unit to allow AC power to coupled directly to the
battery source and allow multiple batteries to be simultaneously charged.
In addition, the battery could be simply charged with DC from a power
transforrner coupled to a wall assembly and providing DC output in a typical
fashion.
The battery is secured once it is offered internally to the dryer handle and
can be inserted in only the correct way.
Also, the batteries are of a higher than normal voltage to permit a lower
and longer current demand for an equivalent wattage. The desired voltage is 14
volts or above.
The dryer also has an adjustable air inlet on the posterior end of the
elongated hollow body portion for regulating the amount of air entering the
elongated hollow body portion. This adjustable air inlet may include a series
of
parallel vanes or slats that are adjustable from a minimum separation from
each
other to allow a minimum airflow into the elongated hollow body portion and a
maximum separation from each other to allow a maximum airflow into the
elongated hollow body portion.
The novel dryer/blower may also include an adjustable air outlet in the
anterior end of the elongated hollow body portion for regulating the amount of
air
exiting the elongated hollow body portion. This adjustable air outlet may
comprise an adjustable iris similar to the F-stops on a camera so that, simply
by
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4
rotating a ring, the iris petals are moved closer together or further apart to
form a
small or larpe eve through which the air can pass.
Thus, the dryer/blower has the ability to supply only ambient airflow at
various cubic feet per minute by regulating the anterior and posterior air
inlet and
air outlet as well as the ability to supply heated air at various cubic feet
per minute
and temperatures.
The novel dryer/blower may have a circuit that pulse modulates current or
voltage to the heating element providing a duty cycle that enables the stored
static
heat of the heating element to be used and periodically replenished. The
advantage is longer heating element life, increased battery life, increased
usefulness between charges, and reduced currents when using "deep discharge
battery technology" which is very costly. This pulsing circuit is activated
under
certain conditions wben the heat button is depressed. The blower motor is
operated independent of the pulsing circuit used with the heating element.
This novel pulsing circuit provides a means of regulating or preventing the
dryer from over-temperature and extending the life of the heating element.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a portable, cordless
hair dryer/blower that has a capability of standing alone.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a portable hair
dryer/blower that has the weight balanced by aligning the mass center lines of
the
elongated body portion, the handle portion and the battery base portion to
provide
a unit that will stand on its base and that will have proper hand and arm
balance
during use.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an adjustable air
inlet on the posterior end of the elongated hollow body portion for regulating
the
amount of air entering the elongated hollow body portion.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide adjustable air
outlet on the anterior end of the elongated hollow body portion for regulating
the
amount of air exiting the elongated hollow body portion.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide the novel adjustable
air outlet with an iris mechanism mounted on the anterior end of the elongated
hollow body portion and having petal portions moveable with respect to each
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other to form a controllable variable size opening from a minimum to a
max.i_murn.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a novel heating
control circuit connected between the heating element and the control switches
for
5 enabling control of the amount of heating current applied to the heating
element.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a circuit for
supplying maximum heating current to the heating element to raise the
temperature of the heating element quickly to a desired temperature.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pulser circuit
connected to the base of a power transistor for gating a power transistor at a
predetermined on and off rate to maintain the heating element at a desired
temperature once it has reached that temperature.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a manual control
for setting the desired off/on rate at which power is applied to the heating
element
to maintain a desired temperature such as low, medium and high temperatures.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a pulser circuit for
automatically applying an on/off conducting pulse to a power transistor to
maintain the desired temperature of the heating element.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a step-up
circuit
for enabling the voltage or current to be increased only when a pulse is
applied to
the power transistor to supply current or voltage to the heating element.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an attachment to
the hair dryer/blower to enable a fluid spray to be selectively dispensed at
the
anterior end of the elongated hollow body portion.
Thus, the invention relates to a portable, cordless hair dryer/blower
comprising an elongated hollow body portion having mass center line and
including a blower motor and a heating element; a posterior end and an
anterior
end; a handle portion having a longitudinal axis extending substantially
transversely from and along the mass center line of the elongated body
portion,
the handle portion including switch controls for operating the heating element
and
the blower motor; and a power source having a flat base and a mass center line
aligned with the mass center line of the elongated hollow body portion for
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attachment to the handle portion substantially along its longitudinal axis
such that
(1) power is applied to the manual controls and (2) the flat base provides a
platform structure for enabling the hair dryer/blower to stand alone.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other features oi tbe present invention will be more fuliy
understood when taken in conjunction with the following Detailed Description
of
the Drawings in which like numerals represent like elements and in which:
FIG. I is a perspective view of the novel hair dryer/blower of the
present invention;
FIG. .2 is a perspective view of the novel battery that can be
attached to the dryer/blower as shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a converter for supplying
either AC or DC to the battery for charging thereof;
FIG. 4 illustrates adjustable vanes on the posterior end of the
elongated hollow body portion of the hair dryer/blower for adjusting the air
into
the unit;
FIG. 5A is a block diagram of the control circuit for controlling the
power to the blower fan and to the heating element;
FIG. 5B is a circuit illustrating one circuit embodiment for quickly
heating the heating element and then supplying pulsed current or voltage to
maintain the heat;
FIG. 5C illustrates the details of the pulsing circuit illustrated in
FIG. 5B;
FIG. 5D illustrates in waveform 1 the oscillator output and in
waveform 2 the output of a circuit illustrating a 1:4 ratio for applying
pulses to the
heating element;
FIG. 5E is a schematic illustration of the output circuit with a
manual switch control being set to high, medium and low to provide pulses and
pulse ratios to the power transistor that supplies voltage and current to the
heating
element;
FIG. 5F illustrates an circuit for supplying pulses to the power
transistor to automatically maintain a desired heater temperature utilizing an
innovative control circuit;
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FIG. 5G illustrates a circuit for stepping-up the voltage or current
onlv during the time the pulses are applied to the heating element;
FIG. 5H illustrates the stepped-up voltage pulses that are applied to
the heating element by the circuit of FIG. 5G;
FIG. 6 is a general perspective view of a hair dryer/blower
illustrating a device on the anterior portion for controlling the amount of
airflow
exiting the nozzle or anterior portion of the blower and including a fluid
dispensing unit formed as a part thereof;
FIG. 7 illustrates an iris in the wide-open position that is controlled
by the adjustment ring in FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 illustrates the iris in the minimum closed position as
adjusted by the adjustment ring in FIG. 6;
FIG. 9 illustrates an adjustment device of the type shown in FIGS.
6, 7 and 8 that can be attached in a retrofit manner to an existing dryer
anterior
nozzle; and
FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a novel blower/dryer that has a
fluid dispenser that can be coupled to the handle portion in a retrofit manner
and
having a nozzle extending to the anterior end of the blower/dryer such that
when
the container, which is pliable or flexible, is squeezed, fluid can be ejected
along
the anterior portion, or forward end, of the blower/dryer.
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9
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. I is a perspective view of the novel hair dryer/blower 10 including ar:
elongated hollow body portion 12, a handle portion 14 and a battery base
portion
16. It will be noted that the mass center line 18 of each of the elongated
hollow
body portion 12, handle 14, and battery base 16 are all in alignment thus
allowing
the unit 10 to be balanced and enables the hair dryer/blower to stand alone on
the
base 16. In addition, by the alignment of the mass center lines of the
elongated
hollow body portion 12, the handle 14 and the base 16, and proper weight
distribution of the hollow body portion 12 and base 16 as can be done by those
skilled in the art, balance is provided to enable the unit to be used with
minimum
strain on the arm and hand of the user.
The elongated hollow body portion 12 has a heating element 20, a blower
motor 22 and a pulsing circuit 24 which will be described in detail hereafter.
The
elongated hollow body portion 12 also has a posterior end 26 and an anterior
or
front end 28.
Handle 14 also has a switch control pedesta130 and a mechanism 32, well
known in the art, for locking the battery/base unit 16 to the handle 14. The
switch
pedestal 30 includes a diode light 34, usually of green color but which may be
of
any desired color, a switch 36 (S1) that controls power only to the blower
motor
-and a switch 38 (S2) that controls power to both the blower motor and the
heating
element. A manual control switch 40, which will be explained in detail
hereafter,
has multiple positions such as low, medium and high that can be selected by
the
user to designate the heat desired to be produced by the heating element 20.
FIG. 2 discloses the base/power unit 16 which includes a battery 42 and
stem 44 that can be inserted into handle 14 of the dryer/blower 10 shown in
FIG.
1 and electrical terminals 46 to be received by appropriate terminals (not
shown)
in the handle 14 of the dryer/blower 10 illustrated in FIG. 1. The
battery/base 16
may be constructed such that the stem 44 can be inserted in the handle 14 in
only
one direction. This may take many different forms such as a slot 48 on one
side
of the connectors 46. Other versions could be to shape the cross-sectional
area of
the stem 44 to be inserted in a corresponding receptacle shape in the handle
14 as
CA 02614584 2007-12-05
shown in FIG. 1. The battery/base 16 may include a connector jack 50 for
receiving a charging connector from the device in FIG. 3. As stated
previously,
that charging connector may be an AC voltage from an alternating cu'rrent
source
if the battery/base 16 has a rectifier unit 52. This would allow a unit to be
5 charged while it is mounted on the blower/dryer 10 as well as an additional
separate unit that can be charged at the same time. The weight of the base 16
is in
balance with the weight of the elongated body portion. Such balance can be
easily achieved by those skilled in the art.
Note in FIG. 3 that an plug-in unit 54 could generate either AC or DC
10 power output voltage on jacks 56 and 58. If the battery unit has its own
rectifier
unit 52, then the jacks 56 and 58 in FIG. 3 may generate AC voltage. If the
battery unit is selected that does not have a rectifier 52, then the plug-in
unit 54
must be an AC to DC converter and the jacks 56 and 58 would generate DC
voltage.
It will be noted in FIG. I that the handle portion 14 has a longitudinal axis
extending substantially transversally from and along the mass center line 18
of the
elongated body portion 12. Again, the base unit 16 in FIG. I also has a mass
center line that, when attached to the handle portion, lies substantially
along the
longitudinal axis of the mass center line 18 such that (1) power can be
supplied to
the manual controls 30 and (2) the flat base 16 may provide a structure for
enabling the hair dryer/blower to stand alone.
FIG. 4 illustrates an enlarged view of the posterior end 26 of the
blower/dryer 10 shown in FIG. 1. It will be noted that it bas a plurality of
adjustable vanes 60 that may be moved toward and away from each other by
moving a lever 27 for regulating the amount of air entering the elongated
hollow
body portion 12. The adjustable air inlet comprises a series of parallel vanes
60
that are adjustable from a minimum separation from each other to allow a
minimum airflow into the elongated hollow body portion to a maximum
separation from each other to allow a maximum airflow into the elongated
hollow
body portion 12.
The anterior or forward end 28 of the hollow body portion 12 also has an
adjustable air inlet as will be explained hereafter in relation to FIGS. 6, 7,
8 and 9
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for regulating the amount and column width of air exiting the elongated hollow
bodv portion 12.
FIG. 5A discloses the basic electrical circuit for controlling power to the
blower fan and to the heating element The basic circuit 62 includes the
battery
base portion 16 with the battery cells 42 therein and, if desired, the
rectifier unit
52. It also has the jack 50 for connecting a charger thereto. When the unit is
plugged into a power source, the power is immediately supplied to the LED 34
which indicates that the battery has sufficient power to operate the unit.
When
switch button 36 (S1) is depressed, the fan motor or blower 22 is operated
alone.
When switch 38 (S2) is closed, two sets of contacts are closed: one coupling
power to the fan 22 and the other coupling power to the heating element 20
through a pulser circuit 64, if desired. The pulser circuit 64 will be
described
hereafter.
The pulser circuit 64 is shown in detail in FIG. 5B. When the unit is fust
turned on and the switch 38 (S2) is depressed, both the heating element and
the
blower motor are energized and it is desired that the heating element heat as
quickly as possible. Thus, as shown in FIG. 5B, when switch 38 is closed,
conductor 39 is coupled directly to the input of transistor 66. The
temperature of
the heating element 20 is monitored by a temperature sensor, such as a
thermocouple or thermistor. The temperature sensor 68 is coupled to a
comparator 70. Another voltage reference 72 is coupled to the other input of
the
comparator representing the proper or maximum heating temperature of the
element 20. Since there is no heat at first, there is no output from
comparator 70.
That lack of signal is detected by inverting diode 73 which generates an
output
signal on line 76 that is coupled to the base 78 of power transistor 66
causing it to
conduct. Thus, full voltage is applied to heating element 20 to provide
maximum
heating in minimum time. As soon as the element is heated to the desired
temperature, and that is sensed by sensor 68, an output signal is generated by
comparator 70 that causes inverting diode 73 to remove its signal on output
line
76 thus removing the continuous signal from the base 78 of the transistor 66.
At
this time, the pulsing circuit 80, which is isolated from the inverting diode
73 by
isolating diode 82, provides pulses to the base 78 of transistor 66 to
maintain the
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12
heat attained by heating element 20 without having a continuous voltage
applied
thereto.
The puiser circuit 80 is shown in detail in FIG. 5C. An oscillator 84
applies pulses to a circuit 86 that could be a shift register, a counter, or a
divider
circuit as shown in U.S. Patent No. 4,571,588. It could be a 4-bit shift
register for
example only. The input switch 40 that is used to select low, medium and high
heat, causes a selected bit from one stage of the circuit 86 to be connected
to the
base 78 of the transistor 66 thus causing the transistor 66 to be pulsed on
and off
at a given rate. An exatnple is illustrated in FIG. 5D. The oscillator is
shown to
have 5 pulses in waveform 1 of FIG. 5D while the circuit 86 generates an
output
pulse only once for every 4 input pulses as shown in waveform 2 which means
there is a 4:1 ratio of the operating time of transistor 66. For every 4
pulses
received by the circuit 86, only 1 is gated to the transistor 66 allowing the
transistor 66 to power the heating element 20 only 1/4 of the time.
Other ratios could be selected as illustrated by the circuit in FIG. 5E where
the oscillator 84 is feeding the pulses to the circuit 86. At the output of
each of
the 4 stages or dividers of the circuit 86, a switch (S 1-S5) is connected to
the base
78 of the transistor 66. If, for instance, switch S 1 is selected as the high
heat
position, then circuit 86, at stage 87, will produce an output with every
pulse
received and thus high heat will be applied to the base 78 of transistor 66.
If stage
88 is selected by closing switch 3 or placing the switch 40 in the medium
position,
then third stage 88 will be selected and a pulse will be generated through
switch
S3 to the base 78 of transistor 66 with every third pulse of the oscillator or
a 1:3
ratio. In like manner, if stage 90 is selected with the selector position
switch 40 in
the low position, then every fourth pulse presented to circuit 86 will be
counted
and be produced through switch S5, the low position, to the base 78 of
transistor
66 thus having a 1:4 heating ratio. It can be readily seen that such a circuit
can
not only control the amount of heat generated by the heating element 20 but
also
maintain the heat with less power requirements since it simply adds enough
heat
at periodic intervals to maintain a given heat. Thus, power is saved and the
unit is
more economically efficient and the battery life is prolonged.
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13
If an automatic temperature control is desired, then the circuit of FIG. 5F
shoiild be useO. As can be seen in FTG. SF. an integ-rated circuit controller
92 is
added as an integrated circuit chip with a memory 94 that stores a table
comparing
detected temperature versus counter 86 output. When the hand controller 40 is
set
to a position of low, medium or high, that position is detected by the
integrated
circuit controller 92 which then compares the temperature table with the
actual
temperature received from sensor 68 and through line 96 causes the proper
output
of counter 86 to be applied to the base of transistor 66 to supply the proper
voltage or current to the heating element 20 to cause it to reach the set
temperature.
It may be desirable to increase the current or voltage to the heating
element during the time the pulse is applied through the transistor 66. Thus,
in
FIG. 5G, each time pulser circuit 80 applies a pulse to the base 78 of
transistor 66,
it also applies a pulse to a voltage or current step-up device 98 to increase
the
current or voltage to the heating element 20. Such voltage step-up device
could
be, for instance, a piezoelectric device, well known in the art, that, when
voltage
is applied to the device in one direction, causes a step-up voltage that may
be
detected in another direction of the piezoelectric device. Voltage and current
step-up devices are well known in the art and will not be described in any
further
detail here.
FIG. 5H illustrates how the pulse is increased-in magnitude. Normally the
pulse is at a height 100 but a step-up to a height 102 is caused by the step-
up unit
98. This increases the speed of heating of the element to the desired
temperature.
Further, to maintain a desired heat with such increased pulse could mean a
higher
pulse ratio could be used. That is, for example only, I pulse out of 5 instead
of 1
pulse out of 3 or 4 could be used.
FIGS. 6, 7, 8 and 9 disclose the novel adjustable air outlet device on the
anterior or forward end of the elongated hollow body portion. T'hus, the
exterior
surface of the anterior end 28 of the elongated hollow body portion 12 has an
adjustrnent ring 104 thereon which, by being rotated, can control the diameter
of
the outlet orifice of the dryer/blower 10. The movement of the adjustment ring
104 controls, in a well-known manner, a series of petals forming an iris to
cause
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14
the iris petals 106 to be fully opened as shown in FIG. 7 and closed to a
minimum
position as shown in FIG. 8 in a well-known manner. Such an adjustment, of
course, is neeaed by the user dependmg upon the task being performed with the
blower/dryer at the time.
Such an adjustment device can be in the form of a retrofit collar 108 as
shown in FIG. 9 in the form of a hollow cylindrical portion 108 having at
least a
first portion 110 having an inside diameter sufficient for press-fit mating on
the
anterior end 28 of the elongated hollow body portion 12. It has a second
portion
112 extending beyond the anterior portion or end 28 of the elongated body 12
with the adjustment iris 106 being formed on the interior of the second
portion
112 of the hollow cylindrical portion 108 and the iris adjusting ring 104
being
formed on the exterior of the second portion 112 of the hollow cylindrical
portion
108 for manually adjusting the iris opening from a minimum diameter to a
maximum diameter by moving the adjusting ring clockwise or counterclockwise.
Thus, this embodiment can be used with existing dryers, the only need being to
have the inside diameter of the first portion of the hollow cylindrical
portion 110
of the proper size to enable the press fit with the existing dryer anterior
portion
28.
A novel feature of the blower/dryer of the present invention is illustrated
in FIG. 6 and FIG. 10. Many times the user of the blower/dryer, while styling
hair needs to have moisture sprayed on the hair at different times during the
process. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the handle 14 is designed to
enable
a pressurized fluid containing cartridge 126 to be inserted therein. When
trigger
button 128 is selectively depressed, a valve 130 is opened in any well-known ~
manner allowing fluid under pressure to be forced through tube 122 to the
outer
end 28 of the blower/dryer. Valve 130 is shown as a flapper valve for purposes
of
simplicity. Obviously, any well known type of valve can be used.
In the embodiment sbown in FIG. 10, a retrofit fluid spray device 114 is
removably attached to the blow dryer handle 14 for enabling a fluid spray to
be
selectively dispensed at the anterior end 28 of the blower/dryer. As can be
seen in
FIG. 10, the fluid spray device 114 comprises a pliable fluid container 116
having
a closeable opening 118 for inserting a fluid therein and straps 120 and 121
for
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attaching the container 114 to the handle portion 14. Such straps could be
hook-
and-loor straps for exa,*n1 iF. Fxtendinp f?-om the pliable fluid container
116 is an
elongated tube 122 that extends to the outer end 124 of the blower/dryer where
the spray can be sprayed by the user simply squeezing the pliable container
116.
5 The elongated tube 122 preferably ea-tends along the profile of the
elongated
hollow body 12 as for instance on the underside as shown to the anterior end
thereof such that when the pliable container is squeezed, fluid is ejected at
the
anterior end of the elongated hollow body as needed. While the embodiment
shown in FIG. 6 describes a pressurized container, it will be obvious to those
10 skilled in the art that a well-known trigger operated device could be used
wherein
when the trigger is depressed and released, fluid is drawn from the container
and
is released under pressure. Sucb devices are found in children's water
pistols.
Thus, there has been disclosed a novel hair dryer/blower that is portable,
self-contained, having a controllable heating element temperature including
15 manual or automatic control by the use of a novel pulsing circuit that has
a
variable airflow inlet control at the posterior end of the blower/dryer and a
controllable air outlet opening at the anterior or forward end. The device
also has
an attachable liquid spray unit which can be strapped to the handle and when
squeezed, fluid ejected through a tube that extends through the outer end of
the
dryer/blower.
While preferred embodiments have been shown and described, various
modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the
spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that
the
present invention has been described by way of illustration and not
limitation.
The. corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means
or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any
structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with
other
claimed elements as specifically claimed.
